Liam Lawson’s final radio message of 2025 shows how much he’ll miss his old Racing Bulls engineer

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Liam Lawson will reportedly work with a new race engineer during his first full season at Racing Bulls in 2026.

After Lawson was demoted from Red Bull in the spring of 2025, he worked with Ernesto Desiderio. This was effectively a direct swap with Yuki Tsunoda, which made sense at the time.

However, according to RacingNews365, Racing Bulls have now decided to appoint Alexandre Iliopoulos to the role. Iliopoulos has been with the team for nearly a decade, working his way up to the role of senior performance engineer.

What is Liam Lawson’s CEILING in Formula 1?

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Just like Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton, Lawson will have a new voice in his ear this season even though he’s staying with the same team.

Liam Lawson had formed a bond with his old Racing Bulls engineer

The report doesn’t specify a reason for the change, but it could be a difficult adjustment for Lawson. His radio messages suggest he had built a strong relationship with Desiderio.

After the Sao Paulo Grand Prix, Lawson earned a new nickname from Desiderio after holding onto P7 on an audacious one-stop strategy. He led a train of cars on fresher rubber, including teammate Isack Hadjar.

Desiderio said: “That is a masterclass… Minister of Defence of New Zealand, Liam Lawson.”

2025 was surely the most difficult year of Lawson’s career as his dream move to Red Bull unravelled in brutal fashion. But Racing Bulls slowly rebuilt the New Zealander, who was then able to score points in seven of the last 17 Grands Prix.

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After the chequered flag in Abu Dhabi, Desiderio saluted Lawson as a ‘fighter’. It was clear that the Italian genuinely admired his driver, whose 38 points helped Racing Bulls finish sixth in the standings.

He said: “I know it’s not the way we want to finish the season, mate [P18], but just the big thank you from my side and from everyone back here for the P6 and the super valuable points we collected through the year.

“We’ve gone through thick and thin, but with you, there’s always a chance. You’re a fighter, mate. Thank you very much

“Thanks, mate,” Lawson replied. “Thank you for the good job, to everybody. Congrats on P6. Obviously, we achieved what we set out to do this weekend. So, yeah, well done. Thank you.”

Liam Lawson’s brilliant radio after best F1 qualifying revisited

The highlight of Lawson’s season was arguably a qualifying session, rather than a race. He pulled off one of the year’s biggest shocks when he grabbed P3 on the grid for the Azerbaijan GP.

In a wind-swept session that was disrupted by several crashes, Lawson delivered the best single-lap performance of his career.

Once again, the warmth between Desiderio and Lawson was obvious after the chequered flag. Their exchange went as follows.

Desiderio: “That was lovely mate. Very well done. That turn one, my god!”

Lawson: “Oh dude, three-tenths just like that!”

Desiderio: “That’s it, that’s what we do. Every inches, every inches.”

Lawson: “Well done guys, thank you so much. A lot of work to get to this point in this weekend, so thank you.”

Desiderio: “I’m so proud of you, man. Well done.”

Lawson: “Thanks man, I don’t even know what to say.”

Desiderio: “Say nothing. You’ve done it all. Say something in the microphone in a minute.”